Years ago, you could use your Eurorail pass to board boats that traveled up the Rhine river for day trips. Is this still possible? Any info you could share would be great.

The Eurail pass still gives free travel on the regular services of the Köln-Düsseldorfer ships (www.k-d.com).

Yes, it will work. Don't use a day of your pass just for a short boat ride though.

If you are already traveling and hop on a KD boat or if you plan to take a daylong ride on KD, great.

If you are only going for a short trip on the KD boat and maybe a short local train ride, it will be cheaper to save your travel day and pay for the point to point tickets.

Yeah, that's another thing they ruined over the years: Remember when a two week Eurail or Britrail pass was for 14 consecutive days? It used to inspire competition between backpackers trying to log the most miles. It also didn't preclude the original poster's plan to do a little river cruise and train ride back. Now you're afraid to "waste" one of your prcious few train travel dates. In a dream world I'd love to see them go back to that. It's not like the trains are all that full anyhow.

Köln-Düsseldorfer, and several other German boat operators, offer free travel on your birthday: just show your passport to get a free ticket for the day.

Thanks to all of you who answered my question because now, I get to make sure I get the most effective and financially rewarding Eurail pass. Best regards